II UNIT

INTERVENTION CATEGORIES

Human Process Interventions

A. The following interventions deal with interpersonal relationships and group

dynamics.
1. T Groups: The basic T Group brings ten to fifteen strangers together with a
professional trainer to examine the social dynamics that emerge from their
interactions.
2. Process Consultation: This intervention focuses on interpersonal relations and
social dynamics occurring in work groups.
3. Third Party Interventions: This change method is a form of process consultation
aimed at dysfunctional interpersonal relations in organizations.
4. Team Building: This intervention helps work groups become more effective in
accomplishing tasks.

B. The following Interventions deal with human processes that are more system
wide than individualistic or small-group oriented.
1. Organization Confrontation Meeting: This change method mobilizes
organization members to identify problems, set action targets, and begin working
on problems.
2. Intergroup Relations: These interventions are designed to improve interactions
among different groups or departments in organizations.
3. Large-group Interventions: These interventions involve getting abroad variety
of stakeholders into a large meeting to clarify important values, to develop new
ways of working, to articulate a new vision for the organization, or to solve
pressing organizational problems.
4. Grid Organization Development: This normative intervention specifies a
particular way to manage an organization.

Techno-Structural Interventions
These interventions deal with an organization’s technology (for examples its task
methods and job design) and structure (for example, division of labor and
hierarchy).
These interventions are rooted in the disciplines of engineering, sociology, and
psychology and in the applied fields of socio-technical systems and organization
design.
Consultants place emphasis both on productivity and human fulfillment.
1. Structural Design: This change process concerns the organization’s division of
labor – how to specialize task performances. Diagnostic guidelines exist to determine
which structure is appropriate for particular organizational environments,
technologies, and conditions.
2. Downsizing: This intervention reduces costs and bureaucracy by decreasing the
size of the organization through personnel layoffs, organization redesign, and
outsourcing.
3. Re-engineering: This recent intervention radically redesigns the organization’s
core work processes to create tighter linkage and coordination among the different
tasks
4. Parallel Structures
5. High-involvement Organizations (HIO’s)
6. Total Quality Management
7. Work design: This refers to OD interventions aimed at creating jobs, and work
groups that generate high levels of employee fulfillment and productivity.

Human Resource Management Interventions

1. Goal Setting: This change program involves setting clear and challenging goals.
It attempts to improve organization effectiveness by establishing a better fit
between personal and organizational objectives.
2. Performance Appraisal: This intervention is a systematic process of jointly
assessing work-related achievements, strengths and weaknesses,
3. Reward Systems: This intervention involves the design of organizational rewards
to improve employee satisfaction and performance.
4. Career Planning and development: It generally focuses on
managers and professional staff and is seen as a way of improving the quality of
their work life.
5. Managing workforce diversity: Important trends, such
as the increasing number of women, ethnic minorities, and physically and
mentally challenged people in the workforce, require a more flexible set of
policies and practices.
6. Employee Wellness: These interventions include employee assistance programs
(EAPs) and stress management.

Discuss various OD interventions

Planned Change –
Many Specific Interventions

* The many types of interventions can

include a variety of specific practices

* Various specific practices are usually

highly integrated into action plans

* Practices include, eg, team building,

conflict management, training,
coaching, facilitating, organizational
analysis, organizational restructuring,
etc.

Types of Interventions
Human process, eg:
* T-groups
* Process consultation
* Team building
* Search conference (a large-scale
intervention)

Technostructural, eg:
* Work/job design
* Quality circles
* TQM
* Restructuring

Human resource management, eg:

* Performance management (employee)
* Employee wellness
* Reward systems
* Diversity management

Strategic, eg:
* Organizational transformation
* Cultural change
* Self-designing organizations
* Strategic management
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CHANGE INTERVENTIONS
Set of activities and techniques to manage change
Change agent
Change intervention
Unfreezing-------> Movement -------> Refreezing
Structural Interventions
Reorganization
New reward systems
Cultural change

Task-Technology Interventions
Job redesign
Socio-technical systems
Quality of working life

People-focused Interventions
Sensitivity training
Survey feedback
Process consultation
Team building
Intergroup development

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DISCUSS
T GROUP TRAINING,
The T-group provides participants with an opportunity to learn about themselves, their impact on
others and how to function more effectively in group and interpersonal situations. It facilitates this
learning by bringing together a small group of people for the express purpose of studying their
own behavior when they interact within a small group.
A T-Group is not a group discussion or a problem solving group.
The group's work is primarily process rather than content oriented. The focus tends to be on the
feelings and the communication of feelings, rather than on the communication of information,
opinions, or concepts. This is accomplished by focusing on the 'here and now' behavior in the
group. Attention is paid to particular behaviors of participants not on the "whole person", feedback
is non-evaluative and reports on the impact of the behavior on others. The participant has the
opportunity to become a more authentic self in relation to others through self disclosure and
receiving feedback from others.
The training is not structured in the manner you might experience in an academic program or a
meeting with an agenda or a team with a task to accomplish. The lack of structure and limited
involvement of the trainers provides space for the participants to decide what they want to talk
about. No one tells them what they ought to talk about. The lack of direction results in certain
characteristic responses; participants are silent or aggressive or struggle to start discussions or
attempt to structure the group.
Objectives of T-Group Learning
The T-Group is intended to provide you the opportunity to:
Increase your understanding of group development and dynamics.
Gaining a better understanding of the underlying social processes at work within a group (looking
under the tip of the iceberg)
Increase your skill in facilitating group effectiveness.
Increase interpersonal skills
Experiment with changes in your behavior
Increase your awareness of your own feelings in the moment; and offer you the opportunity to
accept responsibility for your feelings.
Increase your understanding of the impact of your behavior on others.
Increase your sensitivity to others' feelings.
Increase your ability to give and receive feedback.
Increase your ability to learn from your own and a group's experience.
Increase your ability to manage and utilize conflict.
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TASK FORCE.
A task force (TF) is a temporary unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or
activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general
usage and is a standard part of GOVERNMENT terminology. Many non-military organizations
now create "task forces" or task groups for temporary activities that might have once been
performed by ad hoc committees.
A TASK FORCE IS FORMED FOR
-by the government for emergency situations.
-by the defence forces for specific task achievement.
-by various companies to complete special tasks.
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INSTITUTIONAL BUILDING,
Institution Building focuses on enabling a cooperative to become a viable, salient and truly
member-owned and controlled enterprise. The approach attempts to help the cooperative achieve
immediate improvements in its "physical and financial" performance, while striving to bring about
its self-sustaining all around improvement over the long term.

The first step in Institution Building focuses on helping all those associated with the INSTITUTION
to achieve a shared vision -- most importantly among the owners and their elected
representatives.
The process begins with enabling the board or the management committee to evolve a set of
organisational values and to define the Mission -- the purpose for the institution's existence. This
is followed by developing a strategic plan, including long term objectives. Next, the strategic plan
is elaborated through an action plan detailing the activities to be undertaken to achieve its
objectives. The design and process share a common conceptual base, but are implemented in a
different way .
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TEAM BUILDING,
Teambuilding is a method designed to help teams operate more effectively by improving internal
communication and problem-solving skills.
THE CHARACTERTISTICS OF THE TEAMS ARE
Contributions made within the group are additive.
The group moves forward as a unit; there is a sense of team spirit, high involvement.
Decisions are made by consensus.
Commitment to decisions by most members is strong.
The group continually evaluates itself.
The group is clear about its goals.
Conflict is brought out into the open and dealt with.
Alternative ways of thinking about solutions are generated.
Leadership tends to go to the individual best qualified.
Feelings are dealt with openly.

A team building success is when your team can accomplish something much bigger and work
more effectively than a group of the same individuals working on their own. You have a strong
synergy of individual contributions. But there are two critical factors in building a high
performance team.
The first factor in team effectiveness is the diversity of skills and personalities. When people use
their strengths in full, but can compensate for each other's weaknesses. When different
personality types balance and complement each other.
The other critical element of team work success is that all the team efforts are directed towards
the same clear goals, the team goals. This relies heavily on good communication in the team and
the harmony in member relationships.
In real life, team work success rarely happens by itself, without focused team building efforts and
activities. There is simply too much space for problems. For example, different personalities,
instead of complementing and balancing each other, may build up conflicts. Or even worse, some
people with similar personalities may start fighting for authority and dominance in certain areas of
expertise. Even if the team goals are clear and accepted by everyone, there may be no team
commitment to the group goals or no consensus on the means of achieving those goals:
individuals in the team just follow their personal opinions and move in conflicting directions. There
may be a lack of trust and openness that blocks the critical communication and leads to loss of
coordination in the individual efforts. And on and on. This is why every team needs a good leader
who is able to deal with all such team work issues.
Here are some additional team building ideas, techniques, and tips you can try when managing
teams in your situation.
Make sure that the team goals are totally clear and completely understood and accepted by each
team member.
Make sure there is complete clarity in who is responsible for what and avoid overlapping
authority. For example, if there is a risk that two team members will be competing for control in
certain area, try to divide that area into two distinct parts and give each more complete control in
one of those parts, according to those individual's strengths and personal inclinations.
Build trust with your team members by spending one-on-one time in an atmosphere of honesty
and openness. Be loyal to your employees, if you expect the same.
Allow your office team members build trust and openness between each other in team building
activities and events. Give them some opportunities of extra social time with each other in an
atmosphere that encourages open communication. For example in a group lunch on Friday.
Though be careful with those corporate team building activities or events in which socializing
competes too much with someone's family time.
For issues that rely heavily on the team consensus and commitment, try to involve the whole
team in the decision making process. For example, via group goal setting or group sessions with
collective discussions of possible decision options or solution ideas. What you want to achieve
here is that each team member feels his or her ownership in the final decision, solution, or idea.
And the more he or she feels this way, the more likely he or she is to agree with and commit to
the decided line of action, the more you build team commitment to the goals and decisions.
When managing teams, make sure there are no blocked lines of communications and you and
your people are kept fully informed.
Be careful with interpersonal issues. Recognize them early and deal with them in full.
Don't miss opportunities to empower your employees. Say thank you or show appreciation of an
individual team player's work.
Don't limit yourself to negative feedback. Be fare. Whenever there is an opportunity, give positive
feedback as well.
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ROLE ANALYSIS,
A Role Analysis considers the key tasks of the role and the skills and abilities needed to fill the
role. This sounds easy but it is often not done well because people make assumptions about the
role without really thinking through the current needs and demands.
The information from the Role Analysis will be useful for:
Structuring the Role Description and Advertisement
Determining the appropriate classification level for the role;
Deciding on the assessment areas and processes for candidates applying for the role
Beginning to tailor the induction based upon the demands of the role
The information you should gather for role analysis includes:
Activities
What are the tasks associated with the role? Who does the person interact with?
Worker attitudes and behaviours
What attitudes, capabilities and traits do you need in the successful candidate? For example,
integrity, respect, collaboration, initiative and customer service. This is a critical to consider and it
is perfectly valid to include it in your Role Analysis process
Performance criteria and outcomes
What are the standards and measures that can be used to assess the effectiveness of employees
operating in the role (eg: error rates, Key Performance Indicators, Key Result Areas)?
Role conditions
Are there specific conditions relating to overtime, special circumstances (eg week-end rostering)?
Could the role be undertaken part-time ? Where is the role located?
Specific requirements
What are the educational requirements and any other special qualifications, licences or skills?
Supervision/ responsibility
What is the degree of responsibility and authority provided to carry out responsibilities? What is
the approximate number of staff the role will be responsible for? What budget responsibilities are
associated? Who does the role report to?
How do I get the information I need?
When you do a Role Analysis you should talk to a range of people rather than just consider you
know everything about the role. You should:
Talk to the people doing the role currently
Talk to others who have close relationships with the role – peers, direct reports and customers
stakeholders
Consider if the role is to remain in its current form or if it is time to change aspects of the role
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Role Analysis and Role Design Checklist
Questions to guide you through the process
Why is the role necessary?
Why do we need to recruit?
What alternative ways are there to fill the vacancy? (i.e. utilizing existing employees, excess/work
injured employees, external sources)
What does the role involve?
What skills and competencies do I need in this role?
Are there any special conditions I need to consider?
Is the role description up to date (ie less than 2 years old)?
Is the role description competency based?
Does the role description really reflect the current role requirements?
Will the role description encourage or discourage candidates to apply (ie are the criteria too
specific to meet, is the specification too long or too vague?)
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MINTZBERGS TYPOLOGY,
MINTZBERG'S TYPOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONS

In ''The structuring of organizations'' Mintzberg has attempted to synthesize the

concepts of the systems theory concerning behaviour and functioning of organizations.
He made a useful classification of organizations on the basis of their structure. In
accordance with the systems theory he defines structure in a broad sense as: <the sum
total of the ways in which an organization divides its labour into distinct tasks and
then achieves coordination among them.’ In this definition, organizational structure
refers to the structure of individual positions, patterns of communication, planning
procedures, systems of information flow and control systems. Mintzberg defines the
structure of an organization as composed of five coordinating principles, five basic
organizational parts, and four sets of design parameters and contingencies. The elements
of structure together can be clustered into six structural configurations:
1. the simple structure,
2. the machine bureaucracy,
3. the professional bureaucracy,
4. the divisionalized form,
5. the adhocracy,
6. the missionary form.

The contingencies defined by Mintzberg

are useful tools in relating organizational structure to performance and effectiveness in
research environments. Therefore the following contingencies are chosen to analyse
the differences between the organizations in each stratum:
1.the history related variables (organizational age and size),
2. the technical system characteristics (regulation and sophistication),
3. the environmental variables (stability, complexity, diversity and hostility),
4. the power (human interest) variables (ownership, external power, power needs
of individuals etc. and fashions).
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ASSESSMENT CENTERS
Assessment centres typically include a number of elements:

Social/informal events, where applicants could meet a variety of people, including other
candidates, the selectors, recent graduates and senior management. This is presented as an
opportunity for the applicants to find out about the organisation and to ask questions in a more
casual setting. These events may appear informal and not part of the true assessment procedure
but helps to study how the applicants behave in a way that reflects well on them.

Information sessions, which provide more details about the organisation and the roles available.
Tests the applicants listening capacity, as the information provided is likely to be more up to
date than previous research. If the applicants are unclear about anything, ask. It is useful to
have a question prepared for these sessions but make sure that the answer has not already been
covered. Asking inappropriate questions just to get noticed will not impress the selectors.

Tests and exercises designed to reveal the applicants' potential. Selectors at assessment centres
measure the applicants against a set of competencies and each exercise is designed to assess
one or more of these areas. Also, remember that the applicants are being assessed against
these competencies and not against the other candidates so, rather than trying to compete
against them, make sure that each applicant demonstrate the qualities the organisation is
seeking.

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Exercises used at assessment centres

* Interviews - background, critical incident, situational, behaviour event

* Leaderless Group discussions.
Psychometric/aptitude tests
Case studies
In-tray exercises
Giving presentations
Group activities
*Management games
* Simulation exercises.
* Role plays

Interviews
You are still likely to encounter either a one-to-one or panel interview at assessment centres.
These are likely to probe any weaker areas that may have emerged at a first interview. Interviews
at this stage are likely to be more in-depth than those you experienced during the first stages of
selection and could be with someone from the department/division to which you are applying or
even with a potential future colleague. Questions may refer back to your first interview, to
assessment centre activities or to aptitude test results. You should be prepared to be challenged
on your answers but keep calm, consider your answers and avoid being defensive. You may be
asked many of the same questions that you were asked at the first round. Treat this subsequent
discussion independently – don’t assume that your interviewer is familiar with the answers you
gave at an earlier stage.
Psychometric/aptitude tests
Aptitude tests
These are timed tests, taken under exam conditions, designed to measure your intellectual
capacity for thinking and reasoning, particularly your logical/analytical ability. Increasingly,
organisations are using these tests at a much earlier stage in the selection process and you may
not be tested at the assessment centre itself. The tests are designed for specific roles and are
meant to be challenging but you won’t be expected to have prior knowledge or experience of the
role for which you are applying. Accuracy is more important than speed. Most tests are multiple
choice and designed so that very few candidates both finish and get the correct answers. Sample
questions may arrive with your letter of invitation.
If English is not your first language or if you are dyslexic, you are advised to declare this before
the test, as the organisation might be able to allow you extra time or grade your results more
appropriately. Test materials can be adapted for the visually or hearing impaired but you need to
alert the assessors to your circumstances in advance.

Personality inventories
These assess your personality and how you might react in different situations. They are not
usually timed, have no right or wrong answers and are often used to see if you would fit into the
company culture and can identify a working situation that would suit you. You cannot practise for
these tests but you should answer honestly and avoid trying to second-guess ‘correct’ answers.

Case studies
In these exercises, you are given a set of papers relating to a particular situation and asked to
make recommendations in a brief report. The subject matter itself may not be important; you are
being tested on your ability to analyse information, to think clearly and logically, to exercise your
judgement and to express yourself on paper.
"The exercise was very time-pressured and I made the mistake of reading all the information
given before starting to write anything down. I got the impression that not all the information was
supposed to be relevant and that they were testing our ability to sift through written material to
extract the most important things."

In-tray exercises
These are business simulation exercises in which you are given a heaped in-tray or electronic in-
box, full of e-mails, company memos, telephone and fax messages, reports and correspondence,
together with information about the structure of the organisation and your place within it. You are
expected to take decisions: prioritise your workload; draft replies; delegate tasks; recommend
action to superiors; and so on. Designed to test how you handle complex information within a
limited time, the exercise allows you to demonstrate your organisational and planning skills.
Some employers also want to know why you have made certain decisions and may ask you to
annotate items in the tray or discuss your decisions later.
Giving presentations
Some employers will ask you to prepare a short talk for presentation to other candidates and/or
the selectors. You may be asked to bring a prepared presentation to the assessment centre but
usually it must be produced on the day. You could be given a topic for discussion or have
completely free choice; it can be worthwhile to have a brief presentation on a familiar subject
already prepared. Either way, avoid talking about anything too commonplace or technical and
remember that you could be asked supplementary questions so it needs to be a subject on which
you have further information to hand. The subject matter is not necessarily important – the
organisation wants to know that you can structure and communicate information effectively.

Group activities
Most graduate jobs involve working with other people and most assessment centres involve a
substantial element of group work. Whether you have to complete a practical task or take part in
a discussion, the selectors are looking for your ability to interact with other people. Remember
that good team working is not always about getting your ideas taken forward but listening to, and
using, the ideas of others too.
Practical tasks
You may be asked as a group to use equipment or materials to make something (how to move a
golf ball from one table to another using a paper clip and pipe cleaner, for example). The
selectors are more interested in how the group interacts than in the quality of the finished product.
They will also be assessing your planning and problem-solving skills and the creativity of your
individual ideas. As with any group activity, get involved (however silly you consider the task to
be).

Discussions and role plays

You may be asked to take part in a leaderless group discussion or in a role-playing exercise
where you are given a briefing pack and asked to play a particular part. The assessors are
looking for your individual contribution to the team, as well as your verbal communication and
planning skills.